A heavily tattooed man recalls holding a door for an 81-year-old woman thirty years ago. She stared at his tattoos and asked if they were real. He said no, and she believed him, mistaking permanent ink for a costume. The story shows how much skepticism tattooed people faced back then.
I didn't think about prejudice when I tattooed my face. I knew I was going to get some discrimination and negative looks and things like that. I knew that ahead of time because I was heavily tattooed. My arms and my body, 85% tattooed. So I was used to getting the stares. And, you know, 30 years ago, sleeves were unusual. I even had one lady, I was in a restaurant, I was eating in a restaurant, and I got all done eating in the restaurant. She was an 81-year-old woman, roughly, and she was coming to the door, and I was on my way out of the door, and I saw her coming, so I thought, well, I'll be nice, I'll hold the door open for her. And I held the door open for this 81-year-old woman, and she come through the door and she stopped and turned and stared right at me and she goes, "Tell me those aren't real." And I said, "Okay, they're not real." She said, "Good," and she walked away. And I said, that was common, that, that her belief, she didn't believe this could be real. She thought maybe it was Halloween or something, you know, who knows.
